Jazz trio's energy fills train station If You Go

By Mary Anne Janco INQUIRER SUBURBAN STAFF

Posted: May 04, 2003

WAYNE — With Laura Munich's strong sultry voice, the accompaniment of a talented keyboardist, and Fred Weiss' red-hot improvising on the bass, the jazz flowing through the candlelit room was anything but standard.

From a medley by Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim to the bluesy "Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good To You," this trio of musicians dug deep to please an appreciative audience.

The musicians' energy and verve could have packed a New York jazz club, but their Friday night gig is at the historic Wayne train station, where locals wind down their week at the Station Cafe with a sip of cappuccino and the latest arrangement by keyboardist Bill Munich, Laura's father, who she says is the best accompanist she has ever had.

"It's just very relaxing," said John Dwyer, a writer who lives nearby and got hooked on the Laura Munich Trio over the winter. "You just let everything go and listen to the music."

The rumble of a passing train "is a little dose of reality every once in a while," said Dwyer. In the far corner, the Station Cafe's owner, Rob Sless, Laura Munich's husband, grinds the coffee and mans a bar with delicious desserts.

"It's nice to have an in with the owner," Laura Munich joked. The trio has been playing at the train station for about a year and a half, and has no plans to give up the gig.

Bill Munich, 58, of Ardmore, who has performed as a keyboard artist with such jazz greats as Mel Torme, said, "I've been playing music more than 40 years and I've never had as much fun."

Weiss, 50, who was the principal bassist in a symphony orchestra in Mexico and has played with various operas and theater orchestras, said that "the intimacy of the group and the setting is refreshing. . . . You really get to be a voice in the group rather than be part of a sound."

And, on a recent Friday, Weiss was really jamming on the instrument that he fell in love with while attending Berklee College of Music in Boston.

In 1976, Weiss moved to Philadelphia to study with renowned guitarist and jazz educator Dennis Sandole. A member of the Davidsbund Chamber Players at the Academy of Music, Weiss also played with the Philly Pops and performed with Mel Torme and jazz clarinetist Buddy DeFranco.

In the late 1980s, Weiss went to a summer festival in Mexico and stayed for 12 years. Weiss, who met his wife there, joined the Mexico City Philharmonic and formed an original jazz quartet that combined jazz, Latin, rock and classical music. After returning to Philadelphia, Weiss performed with Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli.

As was evident at the Station Cafe, Weiss' improvising is "extremely creative and very inventive" yet there is "an extraordinary coherence," Laura Munich said. "It spins out of him in a way that's so coherent and expressive."

Weiss and Bill Munich had a lot of fun with "Lost Mind," a playful tune that Laura Munich enjoyed just as much.

Bill Munich, who earned his music degrees at Temple University, has performed as a keyboard artist with Al Green, Diahann Carroll and Gladys Knight. He described Torme as a "musician's musician."

Munich, who was on the faculty of Settlement Music School and taught music in the Philadelphia School District, is the leader of Jazz Works, an ensemble that introduces schoolchildren to instruments and all kinds of music from ragtime and blues to bebop. "I always enjoyed playing and talking about it, so that's a nice way to do it," he said.

Bill Munich comes up with the arrangements for the trio, with some input from Laura, who started playing piano at 6 and took up the violin at 11.

"We always made music at home," said Laura Munich, 34, who studied at Settlement Music School, and has done solo gigs playing the piano and singing, as well as ensemble performances.

A former photo editor for Philadelphia Magazine, the Ardmore resident is now studying romance languages at Bryn Mawr College.

During a recent performance, Munich sang the second chorus of "Triste," one of the soulful songs in the Brazilian medley, in Portuguese and "It Might As Well Be Spring" in French.

A versatile singer who knows the mechanics of music, Munich shared a mix of soulful, sultry jazz and some upbeat, playful numbers with the audience, scatting a chorus or two as the evening progressed.

"A Sleepin' Bee," with lyrics by Truman Capote from the Broadway show House of Flowers, showcased the talents of father and daughter. Laura Munich says her father captures the tension between the slow tempo and lush feeling of the ballad.

And jazz guitarist Joe Federico, who went to Temple with Bill Munich and has sat in with the musicians at the Station Cafe, added that when Laura Munich "sings a ballad. You feel it."

"I'm more relaxed than I used to be," Laura Munich said. "It's the best gig I've ever had."

The Laura Munich Trio performs from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays at the Station Cafe in the Wayne train station, 135 N. Wayne Ave. Espresso, cappuccino, light specialties and desserts are available. There is a $3-a-patron entertainment charge. For more information, call 610-687-1931.